‘Crank’ and ‘Pikaboo’ deliver wins for Saipan

Motivated to win for typhoon-ravaged Saipan, Frank “The Crank” Camacho and Shane “Pikaboo” Alvarez delivered as promised, dispatching their foes in the first round of their respective bouts in PXC 49 last Friday at the University of Guam Fieldhouse in Guam.

Frank “The Crank” Camacho reacts after scoring a first round knockout win over Japan’s Kengo Ura in their lightweight matchup in the PXC 49 last Friday at the University of Guam Fieldhouse in Guam.
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Camacho scored a knockout victory over Japan’s Kengo Ura in their lightweight matchup, while Alvarez topped the Philippines’ Jessie Rafols via rear-naked choke submission in their flyweight bout.

“It is our victory. I fought with the Marianas in that cage, for our people. The win at PXC49 was for the Marianas. No typhoon will ever knock our people down. We will always get back up and keep fighting. This fight was dedicated to my Saipan brothers and sisters in need,” Camacho said in a message posted on his Facebook account.

The 26-year-old MMA fighter, who improved his win-loss record to 17-3, took less than a minute in the opening round to pull the plug on his Japanese foe. After missing a couple of body shots, Camacho unloaded a right hook that hit Ura’s left jaw and brought the Japanese fighter down to the canvass. A visibly shaken Ura stood up quickly only to be greeted by a combination from Camacho. The Japanese then managed to get out of trouble after getting more punishment from Camacho, but the latter chased the former anew and unleashed another big right to Ura’s head. Ura went down again, stood up, and was nearly hit by a right uppercut from Camacho before dropping to the canvas anew. At this time, referee Donny Elvina stepped in and stopped the fight, giving Camacho the KO win, his second in less than two months after beating another Japanese bet in Yasuaki Miura during the Rites of Passage 18: Warpath on Saipan last July 3.

Meanwhile, Alvarez planned to engage Rafols in a stand-and-bang fight just like what Camacho did to Ura. However, the Trench Tech fighter saw the chance to pin his Filipino foe down the canvas and capitalized on the opportunity.

“Early on I was going with the game plan trying to stand and bang but when I exchanged punches and clinched him I felt I could lift him easily or take him down so I kind of switched game plans. However, I shifted my weight the wrong way and he reversed and he fell on top of me. I got up a few seconds after and Jessie jumped for a guillotine while I was trying to stand up, but I jumped to slam him on the mat and before even hitting the ground I was able to get my head free,” Alvarez said.

“I knew Jessie was crafty on the ground, but I didn’t expect that much submission attempts from him. I kept my composure because I knew he would soon get tired. I never felt in too much danger in the locks but I knew I could hack them. I’m not an easy person to tap out and after escaping them all, I could hear him breathing heavily so I started to turn it up and work for passes while attacking his body to get him more tired. I kind of got a little bit sick on fight night so I wanted to finish as fast as possible as I didn’t know how it would affect me in the later round. When I saw my opportunity, I immediately went for the rear-naked choke and got the finish,” Alvarez added.

Alvarez added he came into the fight with Saipan on his mind.

“I was super motivated after the storm hit our home. I promised myself and my island I will win this fight,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez’ father, Cuki, who was also in Guam as a cornerman for his son, echoed Shane’s sentiments.

“It was such an amazing feeling to get the wins. Both Frank and Shane fought with heavy hearts last night but managed to maintain their emotions and focus on the task at hand and bring the wins for the people of Saipan. While everyone back home is struggling with even just the bare necessities, we felt obligated to work hard and fast and come out victorious much like how we know our people will also come out victorious from this disaster,” Cuki said.